Reefton distillery raises $1.25 million

A new West Coast distillery due to open mid-year aims to create up to 50 jobs in Reefton after raising more than $1.25 million.

The Reefton Distilling Co has passed the minimum target for its current capital raising and cofounder Patsy Bass is hopeful this will hit $1.5m by the time it closes later this month.

She said many of the 122 investors to date were locals and their support would help pay for the fitout of the distillery in the former Department of Conservation building beside Reefton’s i-Site visitor centre.

Initially the business would employ six people, including herself and head distiller and director Sean Whitaker, but distillery tours, guided visits to its water sources, and on-site events could eventually result in the creation of up to 50 jobs.

Whitaker said stills would be installed by May, with the first batch of spirits – a range of gin and liqueurs – under way by mid-year.

‘‘Our first whisky will be out of the barrel in 2021,’’ he said.

Each batch of spirits will be individually labelled so customers can trace the provenance of every ingredient from the water and grain, to barrels.

‘‘We’ll also offer whisky and bourbon customers the option to purchase their own barrel of spirits and store it for them until they deem it mature enough to bottle,’’ Whitaker said.

Along with the distillery, the venture would feature a retail outlet and tasting lounge, with a display of more than 100 historic whisky jugs collected by Reefton residents Steffan and Nigel McKay.

Bass said that although the

69-year-old McKay twins were not whisky drinkers themselves, they were keen to see the distillery succeed, and a limited edition of The Real MacKay whisky would be sold in ceramic whisky jugs handmade by Black’s Point potter Chris Lewis.

The pair had even designed the logo for the whisky named to honour their Scottish ancestors with the correct spelling restored, she said.

‘‘The ‘a’ got dropped when they came to New Zealand.’’

The business’s branding of other distillery products is inspired by local characters. Moonlight Whisky is named after legendary gold prospector George Fairweather Moonlight, and the Little Biddy gin is named for Bridget Goodwin, a well-known female gold prospector in the

1800s.